of the Lord, Mark chapter number 2. I started in January with something I've never done this year, a preaching calendar, and the only reason I do it is to help me prepare and kind of stay ahead and know where I'm going, and obviously if I get something else on my heart, you know, I'll preach that, but I've been going through the life of Christ, and so Worked out good on Easter Sunday morning. I was in John 3 16, you know kind of cool how that worked out Well, I knew this Sunday that I was gonna be in Mark chapter 2 in this text when I got here Wednesday night There were sheetrock laying on the pulpit that had fallen from the ceiling Well, this is the account where those men ripped the roof off to get that man to Jesus. So I know I got the right sermon this morning, okay? So, I know the Jews seek after a sign, so, appreciate it. Alright, Mark chapter 2 this morning, and our last message, We dealt last Sunday morning with that man that had leprosy that our Lord healed back in Mark chapter 1 verses 40 through 45. If you look at the end of verse 45, we know that because that man was not obedient to the Lord that Jesus had to go out into the desert places. Because he was disobedient, he hindered the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Now our text picks up in verse number 1 and again, He entered into Capernaum after some days. And it was noise that He was in the house. Wouldn't that be a blessing if word got out that Jesus is in the house? Straightway many were gathered together. Insomuch there was no room to receive them. No, not so much as at the door. and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. When they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? For who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they were so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether it is easy to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk, but that ye may know that the Son of man, have power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose and took up the bed and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed and they glorified God, saying, and I want to preach on this phrase this morning, we never saw it on this fashion. We never saw it on this fashion. I guarantee you, had you been in the congregation that day in Mark chapter number 2, you would be saying along with the rest of this crowd, I ain't never seen nothing like that. I ain't never seen anything Like that father I pray that you would take this text this morning that you would bless it that should use it for thy glory That you would pull out the truths that you want us to have That would help us love you more and serve you more in these days and what you do will thank and will you be glory for it? In Jesus' name, amen and amen. And I'll tell you, I don't know about you, I don't like missing church. I don't like when I'm not able to be in the house of God because of sickness or because of weather, things of that nature. I just don't like to miss. You know why? Because you never know what might happen if you miss church. There might be some funny things that happen. I'll tell you some of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. have happened out of church. Some of the funniest things I've ever heard people say have been at church. Me and Brother Langston was talking the other night after a camp meeting. I was trying to cool off after preaching outside. So we were just sitting on the front pew and drinking a cold cold and eating a candy bar in disfellowshipping. We was talking about funny things we've seen in church. He said he was in a meeting one time and this preacher got up and he preached out of Luke 10. where Jesus went and married Martha's house and you know the Bible said that Martha was cumbered about with much serving. Mother Langston said, I knew this old boy and I knew he was going to do this. He said he got reading that verse, he said in the Bible said that Martha was cucumbered about. He said, and I want to preach on when you're cucumbered about. And he said, I need to see Martha. Jesus is in there preaching the word, and she's in the kitchen with all those cucumbers. And he said he preached for 45 minutes on Martha being consumed with cucumbers. He said, I didn't have the heart to tell him that's not even what the word was. I mean, see, if he had laid out of church that day, he wouldn't have had that good story to tell. And then there's been some times that I have been to church. And God has moved, and God has blessed in an unusual way. In fact, the other night, I want to be careful about talking about it, but I preached at Brother Langston's meeting, and it's one of them things you just have to be there. God touched, and God moved, and God blessed. I think I probably would have scared some of y'all the way I was preaching that night. I mean, they just pull it out of you. I mean, it was just, I'm not talking about an out-of-body charismatic thing. I'm just talking about God moved in and God moved in that. I'll never forget that night. You know why? It's because we saw God do something we'd never seen it on this fashion. Did you know this morning could be that type of service? Did you know this evening could be that type of service? When we go out the doors, we'd say, we never saw it on this fashion. That is my desire. How about you? I'm tired of monotonous church. I'm tired of just going to the routine. but I desire for God to meet with us and for God to move among us for His honor and for His glory. Let's look at the text this morning. First of all, in verses 1 and 2, there is the congregated multitude. There is a crowd that is gathered here. There is a congregation that is gathered in this house. I note in verse 1, There is the return, the Bible said, and he entered again into Capernaum after some days. We know this from preaching through the life of Christ. Jesus liked going to Capernaum. He liked ministering in Capernaum. You know why? Because they wanted him there. They welcomed him there. They desire for Him to be there, and that should be our desire and our passion here at Safe Harbor Baptist Church. We may not have a big crowd, but we have a big Christ, amen? We may not have a large number, but we have a good Lord, amen? And we all desire Him more than anything. I tell you, I was talking to a preacher this week on the phone, and we were discussing, A different thing, we were doing what preachers do best. We were talking about other preachers, amen. We was talking about just how some churches, they turn into a performance base, and it's almost like y'all to sell tickets at the door, because they're going to perform and put on a show. From the music program to the preaching, people just going to be entertained. And I'm talking about good churches where we line up doctrinally, we line up standard. but I'm afraid if we're not careful, we turn it into a performance. I want to remind us all this morning, this is not about entertainment. This is not about lifting ourselves up. This is not about magnifying a choir or a preacher or a singer, but this is a house. This is a place that has been set aside for the glory of Jesus Christ and for the propagation of the gospel message of Jesus. I tell you, if we started bragging on one another this morning, we wouldn't have much to brag on because it'd be all lies. We can pass around that microphone, and we can start bragging on Jesus, and we can be here till next Sunday bragging on the Lord, how good He's been to us, and how wonderful He is, how kind He is. And Jesus liked going to Capernaum because they wanted Him there. There's a return. Then there's a reputation in verse number 1 and 2. The Bible said, And it was noise that he was in the house. And straightway there were many gathered together. And so much there was no room to receive them at the door. No, not so much to receive them. No, not so much as about the door. You know what? They wanted to see Jesus. They wanted to be in Jesus' presence. They wanted Him. You know what? When Jesus shows up, word will get out. Hey man, when Jesus shows up somewhere, the reputation word will get out into the community. Hey, Jesus is here. There's the return, there's the reputation, but then there's the revelation. Watch the latter part of verse number two. All these people showing up, watch the last phrase, and he preached the word unto them. Hallelujah. They didn't come for puppets, projectors, or promotions, they come for preaching, amen? And I'm not against for all those things in their proper place, but that is not the primary focus of the church. The primary focus of the church is preaching the word of God. Paul told the young preacher Timothy, I preach the word. Be instant, end season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering in doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But he said, but be diligent, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. I'm gonna tell you this morning, what this church is built on is the Lord Jesus Christ. And what this church is built on is the preaching of the word of God. I wanna have good singing around here. And I want to have good worship around here. But I want to make sure that at the end of the day, we are magnifying this book. We are lifting up this book. I thank God for my Bible this morning. I thank God for Bible preaching today. Amen. It will make the difference in our lives. I've been here 11 and a half years, almost 12 years now. Come November, I hardly believe it's been that long. And I give God the glory. And if there's anything burning in my heart more in these days, it's I want to know what this book says. And I want to preach this book line upon line, precept upon precept. I pray that God has changed me as a preacher. You don't need cute stories. You don't need fancy illustrations. That's all going to get you to the dark hours. That's all going to help you at the funeral home or at the hospital. But I'll tell you what will help you in those dark days is taking that red-backed King James Bible and preaching what the Saint the Lord... Hey, I'm telling you this morning, I've never heard anybody say, I want to thank God for my science book. Because I read my science book and I learned about how bad alcohol and drugs were doing to my body through that science book. And I learned about all... I've never heard anybody say that. I've never heard anybody say, I want to thank God for a history book. Because I looked at that history book, and I saw the lineage of history, and how history has gone, and I saw how that changed my life. But I'll tell you, I've heard multiple people stand up and say, I want to thank God for that Bible. I want to thank God for His Word, because that Word changed me, and it made a difference in my life. And I'll tell you, at this point, I'd rather drop dead as to not preach this book. I'll tell you this morning, churches are going for entertainment. You know what? You entertain goats and you feed sheep. Amen. You entertain goats, but you feed sheep. But Davis will be with us in October. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to him being with us. And son, he can cut you coming and going. I love him to death. I quit. I learned this real quick. If you want somebody to console you, Be kind to you and pat you on the head and love on you and tell you everything's going to be okay. Don't call but Eddie. Especially if you're a preacher. Especially if you're Josh Montgomery, he ain't going to do that. He's going to tell you, you know, suck it up, buttercup, man up, move on. So I don't call him no more, amen. I call other people, amen. Amen. But I remember years ago, I was going through things here, and I made a horrible mistake of preaching to defend me and preaching trying to fight off goats. He said, son, if you'll just feed sheep, the goats will starve out. He said, if you'll feed the sheep, the wolves will starve out, because wolves and goats don't eat sheep food. He said, wolves eat sheep. I think the man knew what he was talking about a little bit. And I have found if we'll just feed the sheep and take the word of God. I'm hurrying this morning. Y'all know me. I'm trying to be tight. I got six more points. Don't worry. They ain't all going to be this long. But I tell you this morning, I listen to a lot of preaching. And I do a lot of research. I try to feed myself. And I get tired of listening. Some guys I can't listen to no more. Because they'll take the first 35 minutes and just tell you everything you've already saw on Facebook. everything you've already saw on the news this week, and to get everybody depressed and down, and then wonder why their service is dead at 4 o'clock in the morning. So I said, well, you're just walking around blind to the world. I'm not interested in this world. My allegiance is in another world. I'm not interested in Fox News. I'm interested in the good news, amen? I tell you, God's going to judge this nation. God's going to judge this wickedness. All nations that forget God shall be turned into hell. That is what the Bible says. But I'm telling you, this is not my nation. This is not my home. This is not my world. But my possessions and my allegiance lies to another world. And it's high time that Baptist preachers, and it's high time that Baptist people, we don't get so caught up in this world that we forget we are just passing through, and we're headed to a better land. and I want to know more about my Lord. That's why on Sunday mornings we are specifically preaching through these gospels. We're trying to make much of Jesus. If there's ever been a day that we ought to preach on Jesus, it's this day. Most of the things preachers fuss about, everybody in the church already agrees with them anyway. Ain't nothing but a complaint session. But why don't we get together and brag on Jesus? I preach on sin. If you don't believe that, watch online. Go back to last Sunday night's sermon. I preach on sin. We're against sin. We take a stand against that. But I tell you, we want to lift up Jesus. We want to magnify Jesus. And I love this, my whole point, this crowd. So many people gathered into this house. They couldn't get no more in. And what was he doing? Oh, was he doing miracles? Oh, was he doing some great thing? No. He was just preaching the Word. You know, you go to these, you don't, and I don't either, but there's guys that go to these church building seminars, and they talk about all these things they do, and all Jesus did was preach the Word, and He filled a house up. Well, preacher, you're preaching the word now, and the house ain't full. It's just a handful, not a house full. Well, the Bible said in the book of Amos, there's gonna come a day when there'll be a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. There wouldn't be a famine of the preaching. There'd be a famine of the hearing. And I believe we're living in that today. There's a congregated multitude. I'm hurrying. Number two, very quickly, there's the crippled man. Verse three, and they come unto him, bringing one Sick of the palsy. Two things about this man. I'm hurrying. He was hindered. This palsy was a sickness that had left this man paralyzed. He cannot walk. He cannot get around himself. Since he is hindered, he is helpless. And I don't mean that in a derogatory, disrespectful way to anybody that's had a handicap, but he cannot. They don't have the motorized wheelchairs in this day. He is not able to be mobile. If he's going to get anywhere, he's got to rely on somebody else. So this man, he is hindered and he is hopeless. There's a corrugated multitude. I told you I ain't going to be as long on the lesson points as I did the first point. There's a crippled man. But thank God in verse 3 and 4, there are some concerned men. Thank God for these men that saw that this man could not get to Jesus on his own. The Bible said, and they come to him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born afore. I know a couple of things about these men. Their discernment, they come unto Him. Who's that Him? Jesus. They knew where Jesus was at. And they knew about Jesus. They had some discernment. And you know what we're going to be doing on July 4th? We're going to be doing more than passing out popsicles and passing out tracts. We're trying to tell some crippled people. We're trying to tell some lost people that we know a man named Jesus who is the answer to their soul's sickness, that sickness of sin that has ravaged their lives. Hey, if anybody ought to know the difference that Jesus can make, it ought to be this crowd this morning. Their discernment, notice their desire, which was born of four. Not only did they know this man's condition, and they knew about Christ, but they had a desire to get this man to Jesus. You got anybody you're trying to get to Jesus right now? That leads to their determination. Verse four, and when they could not come nigh to him for the press, there was a preacher, I did not hear the sermon, but a preacher from that text, and so right now the news media have always hindered people from getting to Jesus. But that's not the press it's talking about, okay? I agree with that, but that's not the press it's talking about. It's talking about the press from the crowd. When they could not come to him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let the bed down where in the sick of the palsy lay. These men were determined they couldn't get inside the door because of the crowd. So what'd they do? They went on top of the roof. Now, I'll be honest with you, if that had been us, and we're trying to get somebody to Jesus in the house full, we'd say, sorry, we can't get you in, but thank God for these men. They had a love, they had a passion, they had a determination in their heart, this man's gotta get to Jesus. So we can't look any, you know what they did? They didn't look around for a solution, they looked up for a solution. Amen. Amen. They just looked up for a solution. And they said, well, we can't go through. We can't go under. Let's just look up and look for somewhere that way. So here's the thing. They uncovered the roof. Now those, I preached on this before. I'm not going to re-preach it. Those roofs in those days were made where they would take clay, and sometimes they would take wood, they would take tree branches, and they would take some mud, and they would get that mud, and they would kind of use it as cement, and they would put a layer down, put some mud on top of it, lay another layer down, put some mud on it, kind of like a shingle-based thing. And you see, it was like a Clay that would harden up and serve as the roof. Well, you know what these men were doing? They were getting the clay out of the way. You know what the Bible teaches us? We are made from the dust of the ground. I'll tell you what we've got to do many times. We've got to get ourselves out of the way if Jesus is going to do anything. Most of the time we're in the way. Can I get amen out of that? Number four, look at verse number five. There's the capable master. Verse 5, I note in this table master his perception. Verse 5, when Jesus saw their faith. It did not say that he saw the faith of the man that was sick of the palsy. But he saw the faith of those four men. I was listening to a lady give her testimony the other day. She's a quadriplegic. She had an accident when she was 18 years old. She thought she was diving in deep water. It turned out to be shallow water. She's in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She's had these people come up to her and try to heal her and pray for her healing. One man came up to her one time and said, Ma'am, God told me the reason you've not been healed is because you don't have the faith. Your faith is not where it ought to be or God would heal you. And she said, but sir, in Mark chapter 2, the Bible said when Jesus saw the faith of the men that brought that man to Jesus, she said, so I don't have a faith problem, but apparently you do. She rolled off. And she's not even an independent Baptist, but I said, God bless you sis, that's pretty good right there. When Jesus saw the faith of the men that brought that man to Jesus, his perception, notice his proclamation. He said to the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. I love that now. That little phrase, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. In that little phrase, two things happen. First of all, that word son put him in the family. Amen. And then that word forgiveness put him in fellowship. Amen. Son put him in the family, but forgiveness put him in fellowship. Now don't miss this now that I wish that crowd on TBM would catch. He ain't healed him. He dealt with a sin issue and a soul issue before he dealt with a physical issue. Now, there are times in the Gospels, we will see it as we preach through this over the next couple of years, we'll see where Jesus healed somebody and then they got saved. But this man, Jesus said, I'm going to forgive your sins. Ain't that interesting? Everybody thinks Jesus has come to give you a better life. No, He's come to give you life. Because you're dead in your trespasses and sin. You don't have life. I don't mean this wrong, okay? I know what we mean when we say, I've asked Jesus to come into my life. I know what we mean by that. I'm not fussing at you. But according to Ephesians 2, you're dead. You don't have any life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And I'm not fussing. If somebody says, I asked you this in my life, I know what you mean. We're all on the same page. But when you think about it theologically, I didn't have a life until I met Jesus. And He gave me a new life. Old things have passed away, but old things have become new. Man, I like this book, don't you? Notice number five, the critical was manifested. Look at verse six. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. Why did this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? You better watch that crowd. When Jesus starts doing something, there'll be a critical crowd. Notice two things about critics. First of all, they were seated in verse 6. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there. Now hang on. There was a big crowd gathered in this house to hear Jesus. But those scribes had made sure they got their seat. They're making sure that they are taken care of. They are making sure that they are pleased and happy. You know what I've often found out about somebody who's critical? They're usually sitting down, not doing anything. Well, why does the grass look like that? Probably because you didn't mow it. Well, why are the lines in the carpet this way? Because Dominic vacuumed. No, I'm just, okay, that's an inside joke from the other week, okay. Well, most people that are critical are doing nothing. Because the ones that are busy, they don't have time to be critical. They're too busy focused on what they're doing to be focused on what somebody else is doing. So the next time you're critical of somebody in the church, check and see what you're doing before you open your mouth, because you might be sitting now like them scribes are doing. Hello, Tokyo. They were seated, but then they were surmising. Why does this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? Now, these scribes are the guys that was in charge of relaying the Word of God to the people. If anybody should have known who the Son of God was, you'd think it'd be these fellas. But see, a critic's blind, and a critic's not sensitive and don't have any discernment. See, there's a difference between criticism and discernment. I know some guys that say they have discernment and all they are is critical. And I know some people that have discernment, and they get accused of being critical as they point things out. And most times, the people, ain't it amazing? And I have done so much, I have done so better. I got a preacher friend that's really challenged me about behaving better on Facebook, and I have got three stars from him in the last month. I get a star every month on my little board in my room. I've been so good on Facebook. I'm so proud of me. I'll probably ruin it tomorrow with a post. But anyway, you know, you ever stand in that crowd, you put something on Facebook or say something controversial, and they would never say it to your face. but they'll just light up your feet. You should not be judging what you're saying, but they just made a judgment on what you said. Duh-huh. Ain't it amazing how those critics can see everybody's criticism but their own? They can see everybody's faults but their own. I was speaking to Grace Sonny. She's pointing at me. I said, remember, there's four fingers pointing back at you, man. So she went like that. All right. Anytime we're critical, we better see if we're seated and we're speaking against Jesus. Notice the conveyed message, verses 8-11. Time out. Do y'all like this going through verses like this? Okay, good, because that's why I'm going to keep doing it. Verse 8. And immediately, when Jesus proceeded in the Spirit, they reasoned within themselves. Ain't that interesting? Notice in verse number 8, the rebuke. He said to them, why reason these things in your heart? That word perceive means to know accurately or to know well. They did not say it out loud with atoning. They reasoned in their heart. They were thinking it. And so Jesus said, well, let's just share it for the whole class to hear. Why do you reason these things in your heart? They're like, me? Me? I ain't doing nothing. Y'all seen that reel on Facebook of that guy going, who, me? Me? That ain't me. That's what these scribes were doing. Why reason? Notice the reasoning in verse 9 and 10. Watch this now. He said, y'all reason on whether or not I can forgive sin or not, but I want you to know I can. You see, Jesus said that it was easy to heal this man. Don't miss that. Whether it's easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk. He said, which one's easier? In other words, he's saying, neither one of them's difficult for me. Don't miss that now. It don't matter what it is. It's not hard for him. It's not difficult. He said, this is something easy to me. It's like a major leaguer hitting off a tee in tee ball. It's easy. But you can't expect a little leaguer to hit 95 with movement on it. Why? Because it ain't easy for him. Jesus, this is easy for me. You tell me, which one's easier? For me to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk, or thy sons and their sins be forgiven thee? And then once we did the restoration, verse 11, I said unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, go thy way into thy house. He said, watch this, you can't decide what's easier for me, so I'm just gonna do them both. I'm gonna forgive his sins, and I'm gonna heal him. Number seven, and I'm done, the completed miracle, verse 12. Notice the arising. And immediately, he arose and took up the bed, and went forth before them all. You know, it's amazing what God will do before us get out of the way. It's amazing what God will do when we're not critical. And we'll just stand back and say, you know what, Lord? Go ahead. There's the arising, there's the amazement, verse 12. In so much, they were all amazed and glorified God. You know what I love about this text? None of the disciples receive any glory. The man who owns the house, we don't know whose house this is, He don't receive any glory. Boy, I'm glad he opened up his house with Jesus. And surely they were a preacher of that, but they glorified God. You know how to tell if a ministry is based on a man, on God or not? Who gets the credit? Who gets the glory? Years ago, there was a man that pastored a large church in another state, Indiana. He said he passed the largest Sunday school in America. That's highly debatable. Anyway, he said he passed this church. And anytime somebody would criticize him, he'd say, well, just look around at what I built. Just look around. Well, I mean, it's wrong. But you can go to Yankee Stadium today, and there'll be 40,000 people. Look around. Does that mean God's blessed what they're doing? No. I'll tell you, though, you go somewhere where God's blessing, You know, we've got this mentality. I'm not saying we, I'm just talking about us all. We've got this mentality that a lot of numbers is a sign of God's blessings. Whether it's bank numbers or people numbers. And I'll be honest, I'd rather preach to people than pews. I mean, what preacher wouldn't? But if we base success of ministry on the people, then Noah is a failure. We're preaching the life of Noah on Wednesday nights. You know what I mean? He got eight and they all came to him. That's all he got was his family. I'm afraid we've taken the church and tried to make a mega church model when he didn't mean for it to be a mega church. He meant for it to be a church. I'm not speaking against churches that have large numbers. I'm not speaking against that. Because there are some churches that are large that have a good godly spirit, but that is not the indicator of success. The indicator of success of a ministry is who gets the glory. If you walk out today and say, boy, what a preacher, then we have failed. But if we walk out and say, man, what a God, what a Savior, what a Lord, then we've done what we're supposed to. Here's the acclamation, our text, saying we never saw it on this fashion. You know, they went home that day talking to their kids, saying, you've never seen it. We've never seen it like this. In fact, I wonder if there were kids growing up, and they're sitting around telling stories. about things, service they've been in. One of them boys said, I remember though, when I was a little boy, we was in this house and Jesus was preaching. And somebody tore the roof off, and they let this man down. I never saw it like that before. The other night, and y'all know I'm not big on emotionalism, sensationalism. Can I bare my heart with you for a minute? Some of y'all understand, some of you won't. But I preached that night in that meeting. Man, God moved. God blessed in spite of us. And I was going to the dormitory to change. And God let me tell my boy a few things that night while I was changing. To confirm, to let him know this ain't fake, this ain't something phony. This is real deal. And I tell you, we ought to impact that in our children's lives. This is not just something we do on Sundays. This is real. We never saw it on this fashion. May God help today. It don't necessarily mean the roof's got to cave in. I hope it don't. I don't feel like doing any sheetrock work this week. Can I get a witness? But I'm talking about where Jesus shows up. You know what happened? The Word was preached and Jesus was glorified. And that is the primary goal of our church, to preach the Word and glorify Christ. As we stand, I've preached 30 minutes this morning. I appreciate your attention.